NOW WITH PICTURES!!
What does the future hold for Baltimore City? No one knows for sure. One way is to examine is to look at the past and present conditions, the other is to look at what's on the drawing board as far as new development. I will attempt to do both while at the same time throwing in my opinion. Sure, the Inner Harbor and its surrounding neighborhoods are nice, but they're aren't my focus. Check out old posts I have added pictures to them!

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

There may be
some overlap between this post and a series I did several years ago
called "Reopening the Great Northeast" but at the same time I have re
tweaked some of the nuts and bolts as I continue to educate myself and
my ideas evolve. No series on East Baltimore can be complete without
discussing the traffic patterns in and around Oldtown Mall. Right now it
isn't great. Gay St. ends at Orleans St. and doesn't start again until
just above Broadway. Hillen St. and Ensor St. are both very wide
considering they're both one way streets. Above Aisquith St. Harford
Avenue (which is what Hillen and Ensor turn into) becomes one way going
Northbound until it meets North Avenue. Like its Hillen St. and Ensor
St. counterparts to the south, Harford Avenue is also very wide. I
personally believe all of these streets and the traffic patterns
associated with them make for a confusing and inefficient grid of
streets that contributes to the lack of progress around East Baltimore. I
would like to address these issues by declaring five words; Make Way
for Gay St.

As
the name of this post suggests, I would like to reopen Gay St. This
matter has been discussed quite often from shareholders invested in the
dying Oldtown Mall. They believe that closing off Gay St. and making it a
pedestrian mall was a big mistake. I defy you to find anybody that
disagrees with that logic. A portion of Howard St. was closed off and
that killed the Westside of Downtown as did the closing off Lexington
St. just west of Charles Center. Howard St. has long since reopened and
Lexington St. will reopen shortly if it hasn't done so already. The
Oldtown Master Plan does call for Gay St. to reopen but only a tiny
portion of it. The plan only shows Gay St. being reopened between Forest
St. and Aisquith St. Personally, I don't see how this revitalize
Oldtown Mall and the rest of the Neighborhood as a chain reaction. That
is why we must make way for Gay St.

Gay
St. begins at the Inner Harbor at Pratt St. It goes north for a few
blocks as a one way street and then turns northeast intersecting the
JFX. You can exit Gay St. and go northbound on the JFX if that's your
destination. Continuing along Gay St. you will see the Baltimore City
Fire Museum straight ahead which is the beginning of Oldtown Mall.
Oldtown Mall begins at Orleans St. and this is where Gay St. currently
ends. All traffic bares a slight left to go onto Ensor St. rather than
driving through Oldtown Mall. Ensor St. will eventually dump its traffic
onto Harford Avenue. Now I'm going to get rid of Ensor St. all
together. Traffic on Gay St. will continue along Gay St. straight
through Oldtown Mall. Given that this is a narrow stretch of road there
won't be any shoulders or on street parking for Oldtown Mall along Gay
St. Oldtown Mall (reopened Gay St.) lets at Aisquith St. at Monument St.
In the Oldtown Master Plan, this is where Gay St. would end. This isn't
the Oldtown Master Plan this is my plan and I'm going to continue Gay
St.

In
order for Gay St. to continue past Monument St. a few things would have
to happen. First, Aisquith St. will have to end at Gay St. Second,
the Monument honoring Henry G. McComas will have to be moved to the
Dunbar Athletic Field, and finally a traffic light will have to be
installed at Gay St. and Monument St. Gay St. will then cut through the
eastern edge of the Dunbar Athletic Fields where a new roundabout at Gay
St, Madison St, and Central Avenue will be constructed. Past the
roundabout, Gay St. will intersect Eden St, Ashland Avenue, and Caroline
St. before hitting Church Square Shopping Center.

I would have loved to
have redeveloped Church Square so that the new Save A Lot Grocery Store
could be larger than the 22,000 Square Feet it currently is. Given how
landlocked Church Square is I don't see that happening without major
disruption to the surrounding area. However, between Eden St. and
Ashland Avenue, the parking lot for the high rise will have to be torn
down. and relocated just east of its current location to make way for
the two lane one way street. The loading dock for the Save A Lot will
also have to be reconfigured to make way for Gay St.

Just
northeast of Church Square, is Bond St. and the titular Bond St.
Apartments. Up until now there hasn't been much disruption by extending
Gay St. sure move a parking lot here, move a statue there but as far as
moving actual buildings goes everything has been spared, until now. The
courtyard that's in the pathway of Gay St. simply isn't wide enough for
two lanes of northbound traffic nor is it safe to leave the Apartment
Buildings where they are even if the front doors were moved. As a
result, those two buildings will have to be demolished and rebuilt in a
way that Gay St. can co exist peacefully with them. Bond St. Apartments
are just southwest of Broadway and Broadway is where Gay St. continues!
We've made it! Gay St. is now one continuous road from Pratt St. all the
way to Broadway. From Broadway Gay St. runs to North Avenue and then
becomes Belair Road. On the existing part of Gay St. I would turn it
into two way traffic and plant a landscaped median in the middle as well
as designated bike lanes. Hopefully, this newly designed Gay St. will
promote redevelopment more traffic going through the Broadway East
Neighborhood which suffers from severe population loss and abandoned
homes. I would love this to be a catalyst for redevelopment in Broadway
East as a fringe benefit.

The
Oldtown Master Plan calls for Gay St. to reopened from Forest St. to
Aisquith St. Although I'm for that I'm also for connecting Gay St. from
Orleans St. to Broadway as a continuous one way northbound street. In
short, Make Way for Gay St! Stay tuned for Part II The Harford/Hillen/Esnor redesign.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Blending East Baltimore into Downtown is the whole purpose of this
series. I think that with such powerhouses as the Inner Harbor and Johns
Hopkins Hospital, everything in between it should be considered real
estate gold. One way to achieve that goal is to
increase walk-ability and mass transit access wherever possible. That
being said, I find myself focused on Historic Jonestown. No not
Albemarle Square, the new development that now takes up the majority of
the Neighborhood but the actual structures that have survived for
centuries and in my opinion, are ready to shine once again far beyond
Albemarle Square.

When looking at how Downtown and East Baltimore have come
together in recent years, it appears that Little Italy has always had a
great connection to Downtown. When the Harbor gentrified merchants of
Little Italy were worried that all that focus on the Harbor would hurt
their Businesses. Luckily their worries were all for nothing because the
Harbor actually drew to Little Italy and business has never been
better. Playing off that success came Inner Harbor East (pictured above), a
high density upscale glitzy shopping, residential, and hotel district
with breathtaking views of the Harbor, Fells Point, Federal Hill, and
Locust Point. Now next on the list is Historic Jonestown. Jonestown had
once been an area to avoid with the infamous Flag House Courts high
rises dominating the landscape. Today however, there's little if
anything to be afraid of now that Flag House has been torn down and
replaced with the much cleaner and safer mixed income alternative of
Albemarle Square.

Now Little Italy (pictured above) and Inner Harbor East are tourist
attractions but can Jonestown also hold that title? Well lets see,
within this Neighborhood's small boundaries we have; Lloyd St. Synagogue
(among the oldest in the Country), Charles Carroll of Carollton House,
the Flag House, the Shot Tower, McKim Free School, The Jewish Museum of
Maryland, Reginald F. Lewis African American History Museum, and Corned
Beef Row. Touristy enough for you? I thought so.

The Heritage Walk Trail is a good way to tie these
attractions together but I would like to see more people living in
Historic Jonestown. Now the question comes up on how to attract a
critical mass of people to Jonestown? I can think of a great way and
it's already built into the infrastructure; the Shot Tower/Marketplace
Metro Station! Now the name of the Metro Station in question doesn't do
much in the way of promoting the actual Neighborhood. That's why I'm
proposing that the Metro Station be renamed to "Historic Jonestown" that
would literally put the Neighborhood "on the map."

Now I ask you another question; how do you know if
your Metro Station is successful? The answer of course being of there's
a critical mass of Residences, Retail, Office and Hotel Space within a
very few blocks of said Station. Said critical mass is located west of
the Station on the other side of President St. marking the eastern edge
of Downtown. My goal is to extend the density of Downtown into Jonestown
not unlike what has already been done in Little Italy and Harbor East.
Jonestown will be a hybrid of the two; Historic Housing Stock like
Little Italy and redevelopment when needed like Harbor East.

Now what gets the wrecking ball? Obviously none of
the Historical Attractions will. When repopulating Jonestown, I'm
attracted to East Baltimore St. I would like to make that the
Neighborhood's Main Street. And why shouldn't East Baltimore St. serve
that purpose? After all that's where the escalators to the Metro Station
are and the Metro Station is what I'm using as a catalyst for growth.
If I'm using the Metro Station as a catalyst for growth, then I'm sure
you know where this is going; TOD! I think Historic Jonestown could
stand for high density TOD to complement Albemarle Square, the Metro
Stop, and the slew of Historic Sites and attractions that this
fine Neighborhood has to offer. So I bet you're wondering what I have in
mind for this new TOD, well lets get to work!

First we have a block of old buildings on Front and
Albemarle Streets just below Baltimore St. between the Metro Station and
the Charles Caroll of Carrollton House. Please keep in mind that I have
no intention of demolishing any historic buildings but these buildings
in between would benefit from redevelopment with underground parking and
a mid rise (8-10 stories) that has an underground connection to the
Metro Station.

Now lets take a trip down East Baltimore St. which
like I said before will be Historic Jonestown's Main Street. In the 900
block there's a one story building that belongs to the "Chess
Communications Gorup." Actually this building has Fayette St. Frontage
but that's neither here nor there. Density this low is not appropriate
this close to Downtown. therefore this buildings should be redeveloped
with a parking garage in the middle of the block and a mixed use
building all around said garage. As part of this project the two lone
row houses in this block should be rehabbed and rented or sold. Across
the Street from the Chess Communications Group building is a row of
vacant Row Homes that need to be rehabbed as well. The Chess
Communications Group will be given Office Space in one of the new
buildings.

In the 1000 block of East Baltimore St. there's a
building that's used by the City Health Department. Just like the
building in the 900 block this building is very low density for the type
of Neighborhood I'm envisioning for Jonestown. One thing they did get
right was the parking garage that's already there. As for redevelopment,
the building would go and would be rebuild over top of the existing
parking garage with Fayette and East St frontage. With the density
increased for the City Health Department building, there's now room on
Baltimore and Exeter Streets for a new "L" shaped building that wraps
around the intersection of Baltimore and Exter. Again this will be a
mixed use building roughly 8-10 stories in height.

The 1100 and 1200 blocks of East Baltimore St. are
perfect for rehabs. There's a vacant building just west of the McKim
Free School that would be perfect for Loft Apartments. As part of the
rehab of the building in the 1100 block of East Baltimore St., the
developer must rehab the McKim Free School and put it to use as either a
Community Center or another non profit use.

The 1200 block building that appears to be vacant is
also a great candidate for restoration. The stucco facade doesn't go
well with the Neighborhood but adding masonry and converting the
building to Loft Apartments would make this building fit right in and
complement Historic Jonestown perfectly. There's even room to add on to
this building which rid the 1200 block of East Baltimore St. of any
vacant lots.

With several new and rehabbed blocks in Historic
Jonestown within steps of the Metro Station, when one thinks of Historic
Jonestown in the future, they will look far beyond Albemarle Square.